Building on its early gains, the Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange rallied a good 169 points, or 0.9 percent, to 18,391 in afternoon trade, a short while ago. Earlier, the Sensex had opened 117 points in the positive zone, at 18,340 in morning trade, today. Buying by funds and retail investors after two days of decline, and firm regional bourses, lifted the market. The Sensex had lost over 267 points in the last two trading sessions. Other Asian markets in Japan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore were up by between 0.1 percent and 1.6 percent.